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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
To Serve and Protect: (From left) Campbell Police Reserve Sgt. Paul Gunsky, of San Jose; reserve Officer Russell Lee, of Campbell; and reserve Capt. John Hackley, of Visalia, have almost 45 years of reserve duty between them. The Campbell Police Department has 13 reserve police officers, who average 16-100 hours of volunteer service per year.
Volunteering in the police reserve
Campbell unit has 13 members working beat
By Moryt Milo
Fifty years ago the volunteers who helped keep Campbell safe were police auxiliaries. Today this function is handled by men and women in the Campbell Police Reserve.
Begun in the early 1950s, when Campbell was first incorporated--March 28, 1952--the police reserve unit has become an integral part of the Campbell Police Department.
Reserve Captain and coordinator Jon Hackley, 58, says the requirements for the police reserve are demanding. Individuals have to complete 730 hours at the reserve police academy and more than 400 hours of field training to qualify as a Level I reserve officer. To stay qualified, a reserve officer must take 24 hours of advanced officer training, weapons training and classes in CPR and first aid, yearly, Hackley says.
At Level I, the reserve officers wear the same uniform and perform the same duties as paid officers. They lead their own investigations and patrol the community unassisted.
The primary difference between the two units is a reserve officer is a community volunteer.
"The two groups [reserve and regular police] parallel each other in requirements," Hackley says. "Many officers who start out in the reserve unit move on to the regular force."
Hackley, who commutes from Visalia to Campbell several days a week, joined the reserve in 1973. He became interested in the program while working for county communication and emergency services--Santa Clara County's 911 center.
"I started out in the 911 system years ago as a county dispatcher," he says. "I was talking with police officers on the radio and the [police reserve] tied in with my career field."
Hackley says the risk--being placed in harm's way--is the same for reserve and regular officers. But the reserve program offers a way for someone to discover whether they have an interest in the field of law enforcement.
Officer Dave Lowry, 37, who started out in the police reserve in 1994, agrees with Hackley.
"For me it was a way to explore my interest in law enforcement before making it a permanent career," he says.
Two years after Lowry joined the reserve unit he joined the regular CPD. Lowry's decision is considered the norm rather than the exception, with more than 50 percent of the regular officers now working for the CPD moving over from the reserve program, Hackley says. The CPD has 46 paid officers on the force.
The reserve program offers individuals with full-time careers another way to volunteer in their community, by offering academy training in the evening. Many of the individuals at the academy have interests outside law enforcement and don't want to become full-time police officers, Hackley says.
Since 1988, Campbell resident Russell Lee, 51, has been part of the Campbell Police Reserve, but his primary occupation is in the field of electronics. A friend in the San Jose Police Reserve told him about the program and thought he would be interested.
Lee completed the four classes at the academy, which took about a year, and went through the field training with the Campbell Police Department. After initially working with the Campbell reserve unit, he transferred to the San Jose Reserves before returning to Campbell as a reserve officer.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
In the Line of Duty: Visalia resident and Campbell Police reserve Capt. John Hackley joined the reserve in 1973. He has been with the department for the past 22 years.
Lee says it's his early days on the reserve unit that stand out when asked about his experiences. During those first years, not knowing what to expect caused the greatest concern, he says. He remembers being the only officer working the first annual Prune Festival in downtown Campbell, during a four- to five-hour shift, because no one expected a large turnout.
"I'm walking down the street and have only been on the reserves a short time. By midday the festival had run out of wine glasses and I thought, 'This is so large. What if something were to happen,'" he says. "Now 20 to 30 regular and reserve officers cover the event, but at the time, it was kind of scary."
From what he has experienced and seen over the years, Lee says, "The job makes you appreciate what you have and shows you the other side of the coin."
It offers a view of a world most people never see and it can make you callous if not careful, Lee says. But it can also broaden your perspective of life, a mindset Lee shares with Campbell businessman and police Reserve Sergeant Paul Gunsky.
Gunsky, 38, was originally with the police reserve in San Jose before transferring to Campbell. He has been a member of the reserve for 17 years. He and his brother went through the reserve academy together; his brother electing to join the regular police force, while Gunsky chose to stay with the reserve unit.
After Gunsky graduated from San Jose State University in 1985, he spent five years as a reserve sheriff deputy in San Jose before moving to the Campbell beat. He concurs with Lee about the strongest impressions being the experiences at the beginning of a reservist's career.
When the reserve police work with the paid police, they are all ranked as officers, Gunsky says.
Over the years, as the qualification requirements became more stringent for the regular police force, the reserve academy also toughened its requirements, and it takes a strong commitment to go through the program, Hackley says.
One of the first programs to help introduce an understanding of this commitment is the Explorer Program, an arm of the Girl and Boy Scouts. Campbell Police Chief David Gullo went through the Explorer Program, as did many of the other officers on the CPD, Hackley says.
Campbell Police Explorer advisor officer Terry Gallagher says the program is an introduction to law enforcement at the high school level. The students range in age from 15 1/2 to 20.
Gallagher says the program can be a real asset to kids he describes as "on the line."
These youths have an opportunity to see the reality of breaking the law and the consequences of the behavior.
Youths involved in the Explorer Program go on ride-alongs, help with the booking sheet and fill out accident forms.
It's discovering an interest in law enforcement at the high school, college or working adult level that brings old and young alike into the police reserve. The CPD, which has 13 reserves, is continually recruiting and looking for individuals considering a career in any area of law enforcement. Hackley says it's a good place to start.
"And in the wake of 9-11, it's also another opportunity to do something in your community," Gunsky says.
For more information on the police reserve, contact reserve Capt. Jon Hackley at 408.866.2121. For youth interested in the Explorer Program, contact Officer Terry Gallagher at 408.866.2121
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Campbell, California
